Last week saw WCPT announce a major change to its congresses – they are now going to be held every two years!
The Executive Committee believes that a two-year interval between congresses will enable the Confederation to better fulfil its objectives, enable more physical therapists to attend a WCPT Congress and be in a better position to move the profession forward globally.
“We’re very excited about the change,” said Marilyn Moffat, WCPT President. “In a world where clinical and professional knowledge advances so fast, it will give physical therapists around the world more opportunity for regular information exchange and learning. It will also mean that twice as many WCPT member organisations will have the opportunity to host a congress and create visibility and opportunity for the profession in their country and region.”
Under the new proposals, congresses may alternate between locations which attract good numbers and those where large numbers cannot be guaranteed but there is a clear case for hosting the congress on professional grounds. The change will start immediately, meaning that after the 2015 congress in Singapore another will be held in 2017 and then another in 2019. Work has now begun on planning the 2017 congress – and because the extra congress interrupts the normal four-yearly congress bidding process, the Executive Committee is considering possible venues on the basis of feasible past bids. The call for proposals for 2019 is about to be sent out.
Here at Physiopedia we are very excited about this development as WCPT Congress is an amazing conference. It is the only conference specifically for our profession where there is a true global representation. It is the best conference for networking and also for broadening our professional perspective to include all corners of the globe. We’re excited, we’ll be there!